moonslav59

In baseball, there's always hope.

I'm not either for the "long term", but they did make some moves to strengthen their extended future while we made some that were geared towards just the next 2-3 years.

Fine to disagree, but to say "dumb" when you yourself say it's impossible to project that far. The Yanks have a better farm. Not many disagree with that. The Yanks have their good young talent under control for longer than ours. Their future budget canand will probably go much higher than ours. It's not "dumb" to think their long term outlook is better than ours.

I've been a big Marco Hernandez fan from the start, but I'd love to bring Nunez back and maybe cut Holt loose, although I'm not sure I'm ready for Lin to be our 4th OF'er. Maybe we sign or trade for a 1B/LF big bat that allows for some flex at DH, OF, 1B and the rest of the IF.

Yes, and I think the newer Nunez is more likely what we'll see in the next few years than the old one, but he'll turn 31 next year. I'd offer him a nice 2 year deal but might go 3, if the bidding got high. Note: the guy was between .654 and .723 his first 5 years (mostly partial or half seasons worth of PAs). 2015 saw a .758 OPS in just 188 PAs. He followed that up with the exact same OPS in 2016 in over 500 PAs- his most PA season by over 250 PAs. I really like Nunez, but it's really hard to know what to expect next year. He had a .732 OPS the first half this year. Maybe he'll fall in love with the A.L.

Key phrase: "long term".

Maybe last year's sweep was not as bad as it looked at the time. That team got game!

Unfortunately, I haven't kept track. I have never said the running with your head down was a big part of the number of bonehead plays. I even forgot about them, until someone else mentioned it a while back. I chose that as one example of a clear bonehead play, but I guess some disagree. Maybe it's just impossible for any of our players to ever do something stupid. Maybe this is just some weird contrarian TwilightZone episode in my nightmare.

.325 in 2016 is not vastly better than .319. Career SLG: .414. 2016 SLG: .432 Significant, but not really eye-opening.

It doesn't even matter anyways, right?

I think I'm actually being lenient. I've never heard anyone who follows baseball that running to 3B on a ball hit in front of you is anything less than Bonehead. I've heard it called much worse- on this site even. Same with running into an occupied base. On that one, at least I can say, in that case, the motive could be to try and "make something happen," but how can anyone call it anything less than "bonehead". I think that's actually being kind.

Agreed, but he's not a good fielder anywhere. He's a much better bat than Holt, even the old Holt, but they are similar in the they both can play substandard defense at many positions. No way can we hand any key role to Hernandez, Lin or Travis at this point in their careers.

He hasn't had the most consistent of years either. 1st half: .737 2nd half: .872

I doubt Nunez comes back, but if all we can do is sign a guy like Duda, Alosno or Morrison, we could try to make up for the short-comings by making a strong bid for Nunez.

Their pen is so freakin' deep, too!

I guess we will just have to disagree. I can't see how running to 3B with the play in front of you as "trying to make something happen"...other than making an out happen. Why not just keep running all the bases on a single hoping they make 3 errors and "something happens". It's a 99.9% out. I can see running with your head down and not noticing the guy in front of you has stopped could be viewed as that player wanting to "make something happen", but running with your head down is as bonehead as it gets regardless of the motives.

We can't sit tight this winter. We can;t really trade away anyone of value without opening another hole that will then need to be filled. We have some players like Travis, Swihart, Hernandez and Lin who show some promise and could surprise people, but none of these guys are the type you can feel confident handing a FT job to after trading away a starter. No, I think our holes have to be filled via free agency. The problem is, there is no solid clea-up hitter who plays 1B on this winter's FA market. I can see us trying for another one year solution at 1B and then rolling the dice large next winter. Maybe we sign Duda or Morrison- maybe Alonso or Santana. I doubt we ho with Hosmer or Moustakas. I guess is can sign one of these guys AND Nunez, we might see a gain over what Moreland gave us this year. Maybe a deadline deal can then put us over the top. Let's assume we sign Duda & Fister and look to the deadline for help: 1. Bogey SS 2. Pedey 2B/DH 3. Beni LF 4. Betts RF 5. Devers 3B 6. Duda 1B 7. HRam DH 8. JBJ CF 9. Vaz/Leon C Bench: Leon, Holt, Travis, Hernandez or Lin SP: Sale, Price, Pom, Porch, ERod, Fister RP: Kimb, Smith, Thorn, Kelly, Wright, Work, Barnes/Ross Not much more impressive than this year.

. Holt, too. He has more 2nd half PAs than Leon (112 to 103).

Top AL top 4 contending team RP'ers: WHIP (30+ IP) 0.67 Kimbrel 0.71 Green 0.79 Miller 0.89 Warren 0.90 Robertson 0.93 Devenski 0.99 Harris 1.01 Giles 1.05 Scott 1.06 Workman 1.09 Goody 1.11 Kahnle 1.14 Abad 1.16 Allen 1.21 Otero

Top AL Starters by WAR (only top 4 contenders listed) 1. Sale 7.8 2. Kluber 6.5 3. Severino 5.2 4. Carrasco 4.7 8. Verlander 3.5 10. S Gray 3.1 11. Peacock 3.1 13. Bauer 2.9 14. McCullers 2.9 15. Pomeranz 2.8 16. Morton 2.8 22. Tanaka 2.4 24. Keuchel 2.2 26. Clevinger 2.1 28. Montgomery 2.1 31. Porcello 2.0 34. ERod 1.9 36. Salazar 1.7 37. Tomlin 1.7 38. Sabathia 1.6 50. Price 1.1 53. Pineda 1.1 55. Fister 1.0 ERA- (out of top 50 with 60+ IP) 54 Kluber 61 Sale 65 Clevinger 67 Severino 71 Keuchel 73 S Gray 74 Pomeranz 76 Carrasco 78 Peacock 81 Verlander 84 Price 87 Sabathia 91 Morton 92 Fister 93 ERod 94 McCullers 96 Montgomery 97 Bauer 99 Pineda 102 Porcello 105 Salazar

Our current positional WAR rankings (fangraphs): Batting: 16th Overall 16.4 (0.1 from #5) 4th RF 4.7 (2.7 from #15) 11th SS 2.8 (0.7 from #15) 12th 2B 2.6 (0.1 from #15) T18th C 1.4 (0.3 from #15) T19 LF 1.7 (0.6 from #15 T20th CF 2.5 (0.6 from #15) 10th/15 DH -0.8 (o.9 from 7/8 slot out of 15) 21st 1B 1.2 (1.0 from #15) 27th 3B 0.3 (2.7 from #15) Moving up Pitching: 4th Overall 22.1 (0.1 from T2nd and 11.0 from #15) 3rd Starters 16.1 (6.3 from #15) 6th Relievers 6.0 (2.8 from #15) Defense: 1st in UZR 30.9 (25.3 from 15th) T2nd DRS +41 (33 runs from #15) 5th in UZR/150 3.4 (3.0 from #15)

From MLBTR... By Steve Adams | September 13, 2017 at 10:14pm CDT Time is running out for David Price to return to the Red Sox, and manager John Farrell conceded today that it would be “aggressive” to bring Price back as a starting pitcher in 2017, Evan Drellich of CSN New England writes. Farrell suggested that Price would require at least one more simulated game before being ready to start. The skipper alluded to the possibility of giving Price a fairly short start and allowing the expanded bullpen to cover whatever innings are needed beyond that point, though he noted that no decision has been made. “These are things we have to sit down and discuss and determine what’s best for him.” As for Price himself, he told reporters that, more than anything else, he just wants to get back onto a Major League mound regardless of his role: “I just want to pitch. Whatever it is, that’s fine.”

You're standing on 2B and a ground ball is hit in front of you to the SS or 3Bman. Everyone who has ever played or studied baseball knows you don't run to 3B. You can say the reason the guy ran to 3B was because he was "trying to hard" or being "aggressive", but it is clearly a bonehead play, unless there's a shift on or something. Trying to make something happen? Really? You're already on 2B. The only thing you could possibly be trying for is an out or a rare error. Look, I get that a few plays are borderline bonehead-aggressive. I'm not talking about those, although maybe I may label more plays bonehead that you or others, but I know bonehead when i see it.

What's important is what is left vs what the Yanks have left and who gives the best wink-wink-nod-nod promise of an extension.

Gut check time.